The Program Officers of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research completed their 56th annual Spring Review, which ran from 4 March through 8 March in Arlington, Va This annual assessment of AFOSR’s research portfolio highlighted not only the overall research portfolio, but emphasized the numerous basic research transitions of benefit to the United States…

Navy photograph by PO3 Diana Quinlan The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) arrives at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for a scheduled port visit during a deployment to the Asia Pacific region. LCS platforms are designed to employ modular mission packages that can be configured for three separate purposes: surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare or…

Grasshopper completes highest leap to date March 7, 2013, SpaceX’s Grasshopper doubled its highest leap to date to rise 24 stories or 262.8 feet, hovering for approximately 34 seconds and landing safely using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control. Grasshopper touched down with its most accurate precision thus far on the centermost part of…

Photograph courtesy of John Mlynar, City of Palmdale James Ledford (center), mayor of the City of Palmdale, Calif., holds an American flag and a plaque containing pins representing NASA and Palmdale that were presented to the city at a recent Palmdale City Council meeting by NASA Dryden Flight Research Center representatives Katrina Emery (left) and…

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Boeing recently shipped its fifth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, which will provide the U.S. Air Force with faster transmission of airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance imagery, to Cape Canaveral in Florida for this year’s planned launch. Part of the upgraded Block II series, the satellite arrived at the Astrotech processing facility…

About a year ago, defense leaders sat down and said, ìWeíre at an inflection point,î the chief of naval operations said March 11. In a speech at the McAleese/Credit Suisse Defense Programs Conference at the Newseum, Navy Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert said defense leaders were faced with a complicated problem: draw up a new defense…

The second Lockheed Martin built Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO-2) spacecraft was encapsulated into its payload fairing March 4 in preparation for a March 19 liftoff aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. SBIRS GEO-2, the most technologically advanced infrared surveillance satellite, will enhance the nationís missile…

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – Northrop Grumman announced March 8 that it has appointed Peggy Nelson vice president of engineering and global product development for its Aerospace Systems sector. In this role, Nelson will lead a sectorwide effort to deliver more reliable, sustainable and affordable products for Northrop Grumman customers. Nelson comes to the position from…

All three crew members aboard a Navy EA-6B Prowler jet assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 129 (VAQ-129) at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., were killed when the aircraft crashed this morning in an unpopulated area approximately 50 miles west of Spokane, Wash. The names of those killed in the crash will not be released…

The Defense Department will see effects to long-term military readiness and support programs such as the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors under sequestrationís fiscal constraints, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said March 11. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey gave remarks and fielded questions from the audience at the National League of Cities…